1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle light that includes a light source, a main-reflector, and a sub-reflector. In the specification, “road surface and the like” includes the road surface, persons (pedestrians, etc.) on a road, and objects (other vehicles, traffic signs, buildings, etc.) on the road.
2) Description of the Related Art
There is conventionally a vehicle light of this type (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H4-18406, Japanese Utility-Model Registration No. 2504584, and Japanese Patent No. 2527274). This conventional vehicle light will be explained below. Reference numerals in brackets respectively correspond to those in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H4-18406, Japanese Utility-Model Registration No. 2504584, and Japanese Patent No. 2527274. The conventional vehicle light has a light source (4, 24, 24), a main-reflector (2, 22, 22), and a sub-reflector (5, 30, 30).
The action of the conventional vehicle light will be explained below. First, the light source (4, 24, 24) is lighted. The light from the light source (4, 24, 24) is reflected by the main-reflector (2, 22, 22) and the sub-reflector (5, 30, 30). The reflected light from the main-reflector (2, 22, 22) and the reflected light from the sub-reflector (5, 30, 30) illuminate the road surface and the like in a predetermined light distribution pattern.
The conventional vehicle light can reflect the light from the light source (4, 24, 24) by the main-reflector (2, 22, 22) and the sub-reflector (5, 30, 30) and effectively use the reflected light. Therefore, the conventional vehicle light can miniaturize (decreasing the sizes in the back and forth direction, in the horizontal direction, and in the vertical direction), and improve the irradiation luminous intensity (irradiation illuminance and amount of irradiation light). The conventional vehicle light, however, has a problem in that it does not take into consideration realization of both of the effective use of the reflected light from the main-reflector (2, 22, 22), and prevention of glare.